Tuesday, October 14, 2014

The Amazing Nephite Roads

Another area that
Theorists tend to ignore is that of the amazing Nephite roads since their
models, other than Peru and Mesoamerica, do not have roads to comment about.
But Mormon tells us about these roads:“And there were many
highways (public road; earth raided to
form a dry path, from one city to another) cast up, and many roads (open way or public passage) made, which
led from city to city, and from land to land, and from place to place”
(3 Nephi 6:8).

The
Babylonians built roads than ran from their temples (ziggurats) through their
empire into Assyria. Note the identical mud-brick construction of both
buildings and roadsIt is interesting
that stone roads and bridges were well known in Mesopotamia and the Middle East
long before Lehi left for the Land of Promise. In fact, the oldest constructed
roads discovered to date are in the area of Mesopotamia, and date earlier than
2000 B.C. in Ur and Babylon. These paved roads were meticulous laid by artisans
with brick-making skills that formed identical mud bricks for building. After
drying they would set them in place with bitumen, which is the natural sticky
black substance in asphalt. It would be many centuries later before asphalt was
used in Europe and later America.

Left:
Ancient Mespotamia road around 2000 B.C.; Right: Celtic bridge ; Boitom Left:
1700 B.C. Royal Road in Knossos Crete; Minoia road 1900 B.C.While both Ur and
Uruk in Mesopotamia had stone-pave streets, as did the Indus Valley cities of
Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, it is even more surprising to find cobbled streets in
the much earlier Halaf Culture village at Tell Arpachiyah in northern
Mesopotamia, and at the village of Choirokoitia in Cyprus.On the other hand we
are more familiar in history with the Roman roads from 500 B.C. onward, though
a road in uncovered Pompeii is dated to 600 B.C. There were Greek roads, as
well, and the earliest stone bridge was built in 1900 B.C. in Crete, and
numerous stone bridges built by the Romans are still in use today.

Top Left: Roman road,
500 B.C.; Top Right: Pompeii road, 600 B.C.; Bottom Left: Greek road 400 B.C.;
Bottom Right: Pre-Rom and Greek-Romanian roadRoads were extremely important
during the last millennia B.C. in the eastern Mediterranean since countries
were involved in international trade. In addition, expanding military empires
understood the value of a good road system which made it easier to control the
empire as messages and orders could be sent quickly.Consequently, it might be understood
that by the time Lehi left Jerusalem, stone roads and stone bridges were fairly
well known. Even in Egypt, where roads existed though the physical
evidence today is slim and pictorial testimony rare. There are some short
stretches of streets and roads which have survived, having lain above the level
of the Nile floods, or not reclaimed by the moving sands. Roads were either
mud-brick or stone, such as at Dimai in the Fayum where the temple was reached
over a stone paved road

Left: Egyptian road to Megiddo; Top Right: Stone road in Egypt; Bottom:
Stone roads crossing the desert, all but now reclaimed by the sandIn the scriptural
record, Mormon describes a rather intricate road system when he talks about “roads
and highways leading form city to city (that is, from large town to large town)
and from land to land (that is, from region or country to region or country)
and from place to place (that is, from house, area, city, town or village to house,
area, city, town or village)” (3 Nephi 6:8).Given the size of the
Land of Promise, and the many cities and lands described, one might consider
that this road system that Mormon describes as leading just about everywhere
would be quite extensive—after all, more than 40 cities are mentioned and 25 lands
in the scriptural record in the area the Nephites occupied. From Mormon’s
writing, it would seem that roads and highways led to or by most, if not all of
these cities, and through each of these lands.There
are only two places in the entire Western Hemisphere where ancient stone or
paved roads existed during the Nephite period, and that is in Andean Peru,
stretching from Ecuador to Chile, and in Mesoamerica, scattered mostly in the
Yucatan of Mexico and in Mayan Guatemala. Of Mesoamerica, John L. Sorenson, in
his book Images of Ancient America, p 56, writes: “In recent years,
hundreds of miles of roads have been found radiating outward from major
population centers throughout much of Mesoamerica. Built-up roads (the
Mayan language term was sacbe, "white road") like the remnant at the
site of Labna in Yucatan were not primarily for travelers but were routes for
ceremonial processions although they were used for routine transport where they
were available. Mostly, however, well-worn trails served the surefooted
human burden bearers.” Glenn A. Scott, in
Voices from the Dust, p 191, states of the Coba-Yaxuna road in the Yucatan, “That
sacbe is sixty-seven miles long, averaging thirty-two feet wide. For most
of its length it is two to three feet above terrain. Where crossing bajos
the roadbed is more than eight feet high with sides of roughly dressed stone.” The
Spanish conquistadors commented that in their time of arrival in the area,
there were to be seen “vestiges of calzadas which cross the whole kingdom."
That is, traces of ancient roads were seen throughout the Yucatan.In the scriptural
record, we find that these Nephite roads were paved, or made of some type of
solid material, like rock or stone. Samuel the Lamanite not only confirmed that
there were many highways in the Land of Promise (Helaman 14:24), but Mormon confirms that they were indeed
made of some type of solid material, like stone or a form of pavement, since he
tells us that during the terrible destruction that “changed the face of the
earth,” these highways were “broken up” (3 Nephi 8:13).Nowhere in all of the
Western Hemisphere is there a road system as long, extensive, and expertly made
as those in Andean Peru, according to the conquistadors who first saw these
roads in Mesoamerica and Peru, and claimed that the Andean roads rivaled the highly acclaimed roads of the ancient Romans.
This highway system stretches from Ecuador in the north to Chile in the south,
and from the Pacific Coast in the west to and through the Andes to the east,
even into Bolivia and present-day Argentina.

Ancient roads built in Peru during
B.C. Nephite times, and made of stone, including intricate rises over mountains, tunnels cut through solid
rock, and raised causeways across
swamps, or ancient bridges across canyons and rivers. These photos are a few of
those seen today, over 2000 years laterRunning 3,700 miles,
from Chile to Ecuador, with an intertwining and interconnected network of
24,000 miles of roads and highways. Truly, this road system “led from city
to city, and from land to land, and from place to place.”Called Qhapaq Ñan by the Inca (Great Inca Road or
Route of the Inca), who later used these well-built Nephite roads to help them
conquer from Ecuador to Chile, they never could have been built by the Inca,
whose existence is figured to be about 120 years in which most of that time was
taken up by fighting wars and expanding an empire. Without these roads already in place, the Inca never
could have conquered most of their eventual territory.“And the highways
were broken up (rent asunder—divided,
parted, disunited), and the level roads were spoiled (rendered useless), and many smooth places became rough (scattered with stones, ridges)” (3 Nephi
8:13).

Several of the many ancient roads in
Peru that were broken up and their smooth surfaces anciently became roughThe point is, in
order to find a location for the Land of Promise today, we should find within
our choice of location ancient roads dating to B.C. times constructed of
pavement, stone or rocks, and also find locations where these roads have not
just deteriorated over time, as found in Mesoamerica, but show distinct signs of
being broken up and the level roads spoiled from earthquake activity. The roads
themselves in Mesoamerica and Andean Peru eliminate all other areas in the
Western Hemisphere, and the signs of earthquake spoilage shows Andean Peru to
more accurately match the scriptural record than any other place.(See the next post,
“The Remarkable Roads and Bridges of Peru,” for more information on these Nephite
roads and how they conquered the mountains “whose height is great” of which
Samuel prophesied)